Message from the Vice-President, Services, and Chair of the Emergency Management Committee

Dear colleagues,

Over the past week, we have begun to receive an increasing number of questions from members of the Concordia community about the university’s plans for the future and more specifically, about what a re-opening of Concordia’s campus could look like.

As you might have heard, yesterday the government of Quebec announced that schools will not be opening on May 4, and that any eventual re-opening would be signalled two weeks in advance, to allow for the necessary preparation. No guidance for CEGEPs or universities was given.

As we have done since the beginning of the pandemic, Concordia’s senior leadership team continues to work with public health authorities to support and comply with their directives as the situation evolves.

As a reminder, all on-campus events previously scheduled through to the end of August — except for day camps, for which government guidelines are expected shortly — have been postponed or cancelled.  As for our summer courses, they will be delivered online.

We are currently exploring a number of different scenarios and will be consulting with deans, academic chairs and sector leaders for a potential and gradual return to campus by faculty and staff. In our planning, we recognize the importance of taking into account the various realities that departments and members of our community may be dealing with.

Rest assured that any return to campus would be carefully planned and aligned with the government of Quebec, public health authorities, the city of Montreal as well as public transit commissions, and would be gradual and incremental so as to maintain social distancing norms.

In closing, I want to thank you for your continued commitment to Concordia over the past five weeks.

While it has been an extremely difficult time for many members of our community, it’s important to acknowledge that each one of us has done our best to navigate these uncharted waters. We can all take a certain amount of pride in the resilience we have shown under the most trying of circumstances.

Thank you again for your support and dedication. Keep well, and take care of yourselves and your families.
 

Sincerely,

Roger Coté
Vice-President, Services and Chair, Emergency Management Committee